a. Field
This disclosure relates to a system and method for determining a position of a medical device within a body. In particular, the instant disclosure relates to a system and method that use a beneficial characteristic of one type of position sensor on the medical device to improve the accuracy of position information provided by another type of position sensor on the device.
b. Background Art
A wide variety of medical devices are inserted into the body to diagnose and treat various medical conditions. Catheters, for example, are used to perform a variety of tasks within human bodies and other bodies including the delivery of medicine and fluids, the removal of bodily fluids and the transport of surgical tools and instruments. In the diagnosis and treatment of atrial fibrillation, for example, catheters may be used to deliver electrodes to the heart for electrophysiological mapping of the surface of the heart and to deliver ablative energy to the surface among other tasks. Catheters are typically routed to a region of interest through the body's vascular system. In a conventional approach, an introducer is used to puncture the skin surface and a sheath having an inner diameter greater than the outer diameter of the catheter is threaded through the vasculature to a region of interest. The catheter is then moved longitudinally through the sheath to the region of interest either manually by a clinician or through the use of electromechanical drive systems.
It is desirable to track the position of medical devices such as catheters as they are moved within the body so that, for example, drugs and other forms of treatment are administered at the proper location and medical procedures can be completed more efficiently and safely. One conventional means to track the position of medical devices within the body is fluoroscopic imaging. Fluoroscopy is disadvantageous, however, because it subjects the patient and physician to undesirable levels of electromagnetic radiation. As a result, medical device navigation systems have been developed to track the position of medical devices within the body. These systems typically rely on the generation of electrical or magnetic fields and the detection of induced voltages and currents on position sensors attached to the medical device and/or external to the body. The information derived from these systems is then provided to a physician through, for example, a visual display.
One type of medical device navigation system is made available under the trademark “ENSITE NAVX” by St. Jude Medical, Inc. The system is based on the principle that when electrical currents are passed through the thorax a voltage drop occurs across internal organs such as the heart and this voltage drop can be measured and used to determine the position of a medical device within the body. The system includes three pairs of patch electrodes that are placed on opposed surfaces of the body (e.g., chest and back, left and right sides of the thorax, and neck and leg) and form generally orthogonal x, y, and z axes as well as a reference electrode that is typically placed near the stomach and provides a reference value and acts as the origin of the coordinate system for the navigation system. Sinusoidal currents are driven through each pair of patch electrodes and voltage measurements for one or more electrodes or other electrical position sensors associated with the medical device are obtained. The measured voltages are proportional to the distance of the electrical position sensors from the patch electrodes. The measured voltages are compared to the potential at the reference electrode and the position of the electrical position sensors within the coordinate system of the navigation system is determined. This system can be used to provide a substantially accurate indication of the position of the medical device within a body. The voltage measurements generated by the electrical position sensors, however, may suffer from undesirable levels of noise thereby impairing accuracy. Further, filtering of the noise may cause delays in generating position information.
Another type of medical device navigation system is made available under the trademark “MEDIGUIDE” by St. Jude Medical, Inc. The system is based on the principle that time varying magnetic fields may be used to induce a current on a magnetic position sensor such as a coil on a medical device within the body that can be used to determine the position of the medical device within the body. The signals generated by the magnetic position sensors generally suffer from less noise than the signals generated by the electrical position sensors in the electric field based system. Magnetic positions sensors, however, are generally more expensive and more difficult to place on a medical device thereby limiting the number of sensors that may be used.